Illuminating device.



E; WEINTRAUB.

lLLUMlNATlNG DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT 12,1914.

Patented June 20, 1916.

Fig. 2.

. r o .t n e v n l Witnesses:

Ezechiel Wein'iiraub,

IEZECHIEL WEINTRAUB, 0F LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ILLUMINATING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented June 2 0, T916.

/ Application filed September 12, 1914.. Serial No. 861,372.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Ilznomnr. WEINTRAUB, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynn, county of Essex, State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Illuminating Devices, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to vapor electric devices, and particularly to mercury arc lamps of the high pressure type. Its object is to obtain increased efl iciency by providing means for utilizing the energy formerly wasted in a series resistance for the production of light.

A vapor electric lamp and particularly a high pressure lamp, such as the quartz mercury arc lamp, takes a higher current at starting than when it has assumed equilibrium and is normally operating. Therefore, if an incandescent lamp were connected permanently in series with a mercury arc lamp and proportioned to carry the starting current without damage, it will not be lighted at all or, at least, not to bright incandescence when the current through the vapor lamp has assumed a normal value. If adjusted favorably for light emission at an operating current of the mercury lamp, it will burn out on startlng.

In accordance with my invention, I have provided a unit comprising a vapor arc lamp, a separate resistance initially connected in series with a vapor arc lamp and proportioned to carry the high starting current of the are, also an incandescent filament of such current rating that it will operate at normal efiiciency when carrying the operating current of the arc and an automatic device for substituting the filament for the resistance after the arc has assumed equilibrium.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention as applied to a high pressure quartz mercur'y lamp. V

Figure 1 illustrates diagrammatically suitable connections for carrying out the invention and Figs. 2 and' '3 show a modification in which the incandescent filament is located Within the envelop of a mercury vapor device.

The lamp shown in Fig. 1 comprises a refractory envelop 1, of quartz or the like, a body of mercury 2 acting as cathode during the operation of the lamp, and a cooperating anode 3, which, in this case, consists of tungsten or other suitablerefractory material.

My invention is not limited to 'the'particular type of vapor arc lamp here shown.

A resistance 4, consisting of iron or other suitable material, is connected in series with the vapor lamp in the circuit including conductors 5, 6 and 7. In series with the resistance 4: is a switch 8 comprising contacts 9, 10 for interrupting the circuitthrough the resistance. An incandescent lamp 11 is c0nnected by a conductor 12 to. the anode circuit 6 of the lamp and to a movable contact 13 carried by a' m agnetically operated plunger 14 and coacti'ng with a contact 15 to connect the incandescent lamp in series with the mercury arc. lamp. The filament in the incandescent lampll is so proportioned that it will be operated at normal in-' candescence when carryingthe normal operating current of the arc lamp after it has assumed equilibrium. A solenoid 16, connected to conductors 5 and 7 in shunt with the lamp by a conductor 17, is proportioned to lift the plunger 14 when the voltage net 16, therefore, might substitute the lamp.

for the steadying resistancef l too soon, and cause the lamp to burn out? To prevent this the dash pot 18 is adjusted to make the time required for the magnet 16 to act longer than the time necessary for the tilting mechanism to act.- I

When the lamp has started and the current has assumed a lower operating value, the voltage across the arc coincidentally rises. As soonas the voltage drop is equal to a predetermined value, lifting of the plunger 14 completes the circuit between contacts 13 and 15, thereby connecting for an instant the incandescent lamp 11 in parallel with the resistance 4 and then by raising the switch arm 8 disconnecting the resistance 4. The time during which both the resistance '4 and the lamp 11 are in series 1 with the lamp is so short that'no harm is performs the double function of steadying the arc and furnishing light.

The incandescent lamp 11, while it may be ofany suitable character is preferably of the intensified type in whicha refractory, filament, such as a tungsten filament operates in a gas of relatively high pressure at a temperature higher than the operating temperature of a vacuum lamp. As the light from the incandescent lamp is rich in red raysyit to a large extent complements the light from the vapor lamp which isrich in green and blue rays and deficient in red rays. By placing both lamps in a difi'using refracting globe, a light unit of color approaching daylight may be obtained.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the incandes cent filament may to advantage be located within the vapor device which furnishes the gas atmosphere, in this case mercury, in which the filament operates. In Fig. 2'the arc device 19 is of the usual size and the filament 20 comprises a simple relatively heavy wire of tungsten or the like operating in a side chamber 21. In Fig. 3 the filament 22 is coiled to increase the heat conservation, and the mercury arc is relatively short, its function being largely to supply the mercury vapor in which the filament is operated.

- I make no claim herein broadly to a lamp or other 'device containing a gas or vapor, in which an arc is operated between suitable electrodes and having a glower of refractory material within the lamp acting as a steadying resistance for the arc, and being heated by the arc-supporting current to a temperature higher than said glower could be heated in a vacuum to have the same useful life,

this combination being described and claimed in a, co-pending'application by George M. J. Mackay, Serial No. 861,384, filed September 12, 1914.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1.-;The combination of means for operating an arc in mercury vapor at relatively considerable pressure, an incandescent filament, a series resistance and means for automatically substituting said filament for at least part of said resistance when the arcsustaining current has assumed a predetermined value.

2. The combination of means for operating an arc in mercury vapor, a steadying resistance connected-gin series with said arc, an incandescent filament, and means substituting said filament in place of said resistance when the voltage across the arc has exceeded a predetermined value.

3. The combination of means for operating an arc in mercury vapor, a series connected resistance proportioned to carry the starting current of said lamp, an incandescent lamp proportioned to operate at incandescence when traversed by the normal operating current of said arc, and means for substituting said lamp for said resistance when the arc has assumed a stable operating condition. y

4. The combination of means for operating a vapor are including an easily vaporizable cathode and an anode, a series connected resistance proportioned to carry the starting current of said arc, an incandescent glower proportioned to operate at normal incandescence when carrying the normal operating current of said arc, and means responsive to a rise of voltage across said electrodes above a redetermined value for substituting said g ower for said starting resistance.

5. The combination of a mercury cathode, an anode, an inclosing envelop therefor, an incandescent glower within said envelop, said glower being proportioned to operate at incandescence when traversed by the operating current-of an are between said electrodes, a starting resistance for said arc, connections for including said resistance at starting in series with said are and means responsive to a rise of voltage across said electrodes above a predetermined value for substituting said glower in place of said starting resistance.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of September, 1914.

EZECHIEL WEINTRAUB.

Witnesses:

JOHN A. MOMANUS, J r., FRANK G. HATTLE. 

